Sacramento-area high school sports: Rocklin hoops coach retires; Jesuit runs hot
Steve Taylor grew up in Placer County, a 1970s child who rode bikes across open fields that years later became acres of homes, shopping centers and strip malls.
He was a key piece as a member of the 1980 Roseville Tigers Northern California championship basketball team, and he was the founding basketball coach at Rocklin High School in 1993, the school so new in those days that the trees took years to provide shade.
As the boys mentor with the Thunder, Taylor won 499 games and stacked championships in the trophy case, including seven Sierra Foothill League banners and four CIF Sac-Joaquin Section crowns. His 2009 team won a CIF NorCal trophy behind Sacramento Bee Player of the Year Brendan Lane.
A year after calling it a career as a teacher on campus, Taylor this week called it a career as a head coach. He bows out with 543 career victories, including from 1990-93 at Fresno High, and memories to last a lifetime. He also bows out as one of this region’s finest coaches and people, a man known to get on his guys for lapses of play but to also hug them and high-five them for a job well done.
“I wanted to stay with this senior class and finish with them, and the way the season ended, it just seems like the right time after 39 years,” Taylor said, adding that he would entertain the idea of continuing to contribute to a school he has grown to love with administrative help, to work with lower-level Thunder basketball coaches or perhaps as an assistant coach someday to hammer home the benefits of fundamentals.
Taylor’s final championship resonates deeply. The Thunder rallied in the final, frantic moments to stun Jesuit in the section Division II finals at Golden 1 Center, and Taylor was giddy, proud and emotional afterward, calling it his most joyous coaching moment. Taylor’s star player, the 6-foot-8, Sacramento State-bound Mark Lavrenov, was The Bee’s Player of the Year this season.
Taylor said he looks forward to more time with his wife of 35 years, Jennifer, and they are excited about becoming first-time grandparents at the end of this month as daughter Ashley is expecting. The Taylor’s son, Nick, lives in San Diego, where the parents expect to visit a bit more often. What’s more, Taylor’s father, Dan, is 93 years old and his mother, Clara, is 87, and both live in Rocklin. He wants to be there for them.
Taylor’s assistant coach, Jeff Harter, whom he has raved about, is the likely new Thunder coach. An announcement could come this week.
Rocklin baseball thunders to Boras finals
Rocklin’s baseball team, top-ranked by The Bee, impressed in the annual Boras Baseball Classic that was held last week in Sacramento, reaching the finals before falling to section No. 1-ranked St. Mary’s of Stockton in the championship, 6-1.
Rocklin beat College Park of Pleasant Hill 8-1 to open Boras play, beat Central Coast Section top-ranked Serra of San Mateo 6-0 and topped Sierra Foothill League rival Whitney 8-6 before facing St. Mary’s.
Rocklin is 18-4 entering Wednesday’s SFL showdown against No. 3 Davis. Joey Lorenzini leads the Thunder in batting at .447, and he is 3-0 with a 1.63 ERA and is a Bee Player of the Year candidate.
▪ Whitney may be in fifth place in the deepest league in the section, but the 11-11 Wildcats also impressed in the Boras, topping three-time defending CIF NorCal champion De La Salle of Concord 3-2, losing to Rocklin 8-6 and then topping St. Ignatius of San Francisco 3-1.
Whitney on Tuesday resumed SFL play and beat No. 6 Jesuit, 5-4.
Jesuit relay team sets record
Jesuit earlier this month sizzled in the Arcadia Invitational in Los Angles County in one of the premiere prep track and field meets in the country.
The school’s 4x800-meter relay clocked a national-leading time of 7 minutes, 41.54 seconds, shattering the 22-year-old meet mark held by famed Long Beach Poly. Each runner bolted two laps and handed off a baton in one of the grueling relay events you can imagine.
The Jesuit relay team includes Navin Kadel, Drake Hoferer, Kyle Jakary and Lucas Alberts. The foursome held off a stout field of 21 teams. Alberts was the anchor leg who clocked a 1:49.34 split, his final kick dazzling a crowd that stood and cheered.
It’s another crowning moment for the storied Marauders, who won the CIF State Division II cross country meet in the fall and the CIF State D-II basketball championship last month at Golden 1 Center under Bee Coach of the Year Tim Kelly.
Football coaching updates
Jack Garceau, who coached the Rio Linda Knights to the CIF State 5-A championship in 2018, has returned to the school as head coach after taking a few years off to rest and recharge.
“It’s good to be back,” he said.
▪ Mikey Badaluco has been named the new coach at River Valley in Yuba City. He coached Colusa of the Northern Section to a 14-0 season a CIF State small-school championship.
▪ Jeremy Kerr has been named the new football coach at Bear River. He played for the Bruins on the 1991 team that finished state-ranked No. 1 by Cal-Hi Sports in Division III, coached by Terry Logue, who remains a mentor.
▪ Sam Cole is the new coach at Pleasant Grove in Elk Grove. The one-time defensive coordinator for state championship teams at Folsom and later an assistant coach at Sacramento State, was an assistant at Pleasant Grove in 2024.
The Bee’s baseball Top 20
(Records entering Wednesday)
1. Rocklin (18-4)
2. Franklin (17-5)
3. Davis (16-6-1)
4. Oakmont (19-5)
5. Whitney (11-11)
6. Jesuit (15-8)
7. Elk Grove (12-9)
8. West Park (18-5)
9. Woodcreek (16-7)
10. Del Oro (15-7)
11. Bradshaw Christian (17-2)
12. Yuba City (17-5)
13. McClatchy (17-5)
14. Granite Bay (8-13)
15. Vista del Lago (16-10)
16. Christian Brothers (19-6)
17. Roseville (12-9)
18. Sutter (19-3)
19. Lincoln (17-5)
20. Oak Ridge (9-12)
Bubble: Bear River (13-5), Folsom (8-14), Liberty Ranch (16-5-1), Pleasant Grove (12-10), Rio Americano (16-9), Vacaville (16-9), Woodland (17-7).
This story was originally published April 23, 2025 at 12:22 PM.